The Snapping Turtleduck
by PaiigeCourtneyy
Summary: Korra, for some reason unknown to her, felt both at fault and saddened by the mess that Tahno had been reduced to after the night of the Championships. And that was how, after a spur of the moment decision, she found herself sat in a bar, buying him drinks. Rated T for language, one-shot. Set after episode 6.


**The Snapping Turtleduck.**

Korra, for some reason unknown to her, felt both at fault and saddened by the mess that Tahno had been reduced to after the night of the Championships. And that was how, after a spur of the moment decision, she found herself sat in a bar, buying him drinks.

* * *

Korra sighed as she walked up the steps to the Police Headquarters. She was on her way to speak to Tenzin and Chief Bei Fong, recount all that she could remember about Amon's attack on the Pro Bending arena the other night. Just the mere memory caused her to shudder.

Pausing momentarily, Korra gazed longingly at the statue of Toph Bei Fong, the Chief's mother. She closed her eyes, wishing for something. Anything, like a distant memory of Toph's adventures with her former reincarnation Aang, or a piece of metalbending.

Nothing.

Slumping her shoulders and groaning, she opened her eyes and continued her ascent. At this rate, she was never going to enter the Avatar state. She rarely got any visions, and the ones she did were so blurred and incomplete that they were less than useless to her.

Entering the building, she noted how deserted it was. Hardly anybody was around. Brushing it off, she went and sat down on one of the benches. She didn't notice the man beside her until he spoke. "Hey, Korra." She jumped, startled, before looking at him.

_Tahno._

But was it? He looked so different from his usual flamboyant self. There were dark circles under his eyes, which were also faded from their usual blue colour. They lacked spirit, just like Tahno lacked bending. She felt a twnige of guilt at not being able to stop Amon. Even though Tahno was a jerk, he didn't deserve this. What kind of an Avatar was she if she couldn't protect him? It looked as though he'd had quite a few rough nights. Although now aware of his identity, shock still laced her voice when she responded with, "Tahno?" He nodded weakly and went back to staring at the floor, as if ashamed of himself. He probably was.

Tahno, _the_ Tahno, captain of The Wolfbats - the Pro Bending champions four years in a row - had lost his bending to a no good equalist in a mask. He was worthless now. If he didn't have bending, he didn't have anything.

Tahno couldn't stand feeling like that. It was like he was starting over again. People gave him looks of pity as he walked by in the streets, girls no longer pined after him.

It was infuriating.

It was embarrasing.

It just wasn't Tahno.

And he hated it.

He wasn't shocked to see her there, at the Police Station. He knew she'd have to go in some time, and since she was living with Tenzin, it made sense for her to be there when he was. What shocked him was that he even greeted her in the first place. Instead of just brushing her off like she was an unwanted speck of dirt, he actually spoke to her. In a 'nice' way - if you could call it nice, anyway.

Even though he wanted to hate her for not saving him, he couldn't. She was just as afraid as he was, and she was powerless against Amon. Everyone was.

Tahno watched out of the corner of his eye as Korra shifted nervously, her fur covered boot sliding across the floor. "Listen..." She began, turning towards him. "I know we're not exactly best friends, but I'm sorry Amon took your bending." Tahno continued looking at the floor as he responded.

"I've been to the best healers in the city. Whatever Amon did to me, it's permanent." He turned to see Korra still staring at him, wide eyed. He could feel his own eyes swimming with tears that were threatening to leak, but he willed them not to. He couldn't afford to lose something else - his appeared 'strength' was all he had left. He was searching her eyes for the usual pity that filled the nurses eyes, but there was nothing. Only sadness, and concern. Genuine concern.

Even after all the horrible remarks he had made about herself and her team, she was still showing conern for him.

_Of course she is, you idiot! _He thought angrily. _She's the Avatar. Looking out for people is her job._

Moments passed in silence. It wasn't awkward, or tense, but you could still feel something lingering in the air. Tahno finally broke the silence, his voice taking on a serious, deadly tone. "You have to get him for me." Korra mouth was set in a determined line as she nodded.

"I will. I promise." She couldn't tell if she was lying more to him or herself, though. She'd love to get Amon for this, for everything, of course she would. But she wasn't sure if she even _could._

She once again looked Tahno over. She didn't know why, but she couldn't stand him looking like this. Where was the arrogant jerk that thought himself to be atop of the world? Her eyes widened as a sudden spark filled them. She'd had an idea! Grinning, despite the situation, she said the words before her mind could disagree and convince her that it was a terrible plan. "Hey, you look like you could use a drink. Tonight, downtown by the fountain. We'll have a night you'll never forget!" He frowned as she finished speaking, and for a moment Korra's confidence wavered.

Maybe it _was_ a bad idea.

She didn't get an answer. Just as he was about to open his mouth, the familiar clink of Chief Bei Fong's metal armour hitting the ground as she walked was heard, and soon she, Tenzin and Hiroshi Sato were stood infront of them.

"Mr. Sato, if you remember anything else about what you saw during Amon's attack, be sure to let us know." Said Lin.

"I'm happy to help in any way I can. I want these equalists to pay for what they've done!" As Mr. Sato clenched his fist in the air, Korra couldn't help but narrow her eyes. His anger didn't seem right. It almost seemed... _fake. _Acted out. As if he wasn't really angry or sad about it at all. However, she pushed these suspicions aside as he turned and nodded at Korra, one she graciously returned as he walked out of the building. She had no right to suspect this man of being a traitor! After everything he'd done for her and the Fire Ferrets, he could be nothing but a very good ally, right?

"We're ready for you now." Tenzin's deep voice announced, motioning for Tahno to follow them. Tahno rose, and with one last look over his shoulder, said:

"See you around, _Uh_-vatar." There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he departed, and Korra found herself wishing he'd given an answer to her proposed night out. Why though, exactly, she couldn't fathom.

* * *

Sitting on the edge of the fountain, Korra fumbled with the fabric on the sleeve of her coat. Night was beginning to fall now. She wasn't usually afraid of the dark, but ever since the attack on the arena she realised that Equalist's could be anywhere, and being out alone in the dark isn't the best idea.

But, hopefully, she wouldn't be alone.

She raised her head as she heard footsteps, but sighed, dejected, when she realised they weren't the person she was waiting for. It had happened three times already. _Maybe he isn't coming_, she thought. _Afterall, he never _did _give you a proper answer, or even an answer at all, really_...

Her internal complaining was cut short when an all too familiar drawl called out, "Waiting for somebody, _Uh_-vatar?" Her head snapped up immediately and a grin plastered her face.

"You came!" She exclaimed, elated.

"Of course I did." He scoffed. "Who in their right mind would miss a date with the _Avatar_?" She glared at him. Old Tahno was back.

"This is _not_ a date." Korra said icily, standing up.

"Whatever you say, sweetheart." She rolled her eyes and stood in front of him, arms crossed. Her eyes scanned him up and down.

He was no longer the messy man who had been in the Police Station. His hair was wavy and in it's usual fashion, his clothes all smoothed out and _fashionable_. His eyes still looked tired though, still had the bags underneath them. Still swimming with the horrors that undoubtedly haunted his nights.

"Boy, you sure do clean up well." She blushed heavily as a smirk plastered his face, not realising she had said that out loud. Ignoring the queazy feeling in her stomach that accompanied the blush, Korra grabbed Tahno's arm and began leading him away. "Come on, I want you to meet someone. Well, you've already met her, but not officially." She paused them at the mouth of an alley way, bringing her fingers to her lips and whistling loudly.

There was the pounding of footsteps and a soft growling as Naga bounded round the corner, sending trash cans flying everywhere. Tahno jumped back as she approached, intending to use Korra as a shield. Korra just laughed at his frightened expression, scratching Naga's nose. "Relax. She doesn't bite, do you girl? This Naga, my best friend." Naga stepped forward to a timid Tahno, sniffing. He still looked frightened. After a couple of seconds Naga opened her mouth and Tahno tried to back away, but was too slow. Naga's large sloppy tongue had streaked all the way down his face.

Korra couldn't hold in her laughter, tears rolling down her cheeks at the sight of it. "She likes you! That means she likes you!" She kept repeating, all the while trying and failing to keep in her manic laughter. Tahno shuddered and glared at the pair as he wiped his face. "Come on." She clambered onto Naga's saddle and held her hand out to Tahno, waiting.

"We're actually going to ride this thing?" Korra nodded. "Figures you'd object to _normal_ transport." Even though he'd said the last part under his breath, Korra still heard and shrugged it off, unperturbed. He took her hand and was pulled up, positioned behind her. All throughout the journey he had his hands locked in a death grip on the bar behind him, not trusting the Avatar's 'best friend'.

They arrived minutes later at one of Republic City's most bustling bars, The Snapping Turtleduck. Tahno looked up at the sign with a frown; this wasn't exactly the nicest bar in town, especially not to Pro Bending players. He winced suddenly as he realised that he, in fact, was no longer a Pro Bender. Nevertheless, he was still a bit nervous when Korra suddenly headed off towards the saloon type doors. He caught her wrist and she turned to look at him, surprised. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She nodded confidently before continuing in. She had promised him a good night, and a good night he was going to get. Tahno groaned internally - why couldn't they go to a place a little quieter, like the renowned Jasmine Dragon tea shop?

He trailed in after her and sat down at the bar, looking over at the menu pinned on the wall. An old bartender with thinning grey hair was stood behind the banister, wiping down a glass while whistling the tune of 'Leaves from the Vine' to himself. Noticing them sat there, he put the glass down and stowed the cloth over his shoulder. "What can I get you, little lady?" He asked, winking at Korra and leaning on his elbow, looking only at her.

The action made Tahno ground his teeth in frustration. He didn't like it; not at all. He cleared his throat, alerting the bartender to the fact that Korra was _not_ alone. Korra looked at Tahno briefly, a confused expression on her face, before ordering. He noted down her drink with much enthusiam before turning to Tahno, "And you, sir?" he deadpanned.

"Same." The bartender grunted and turned away to mix their beverages. He didn't even ask Korra her age or for some I.D., even though she's the Avatar and clearly underage.

Moments later he returned with their drinks and placed them down, his hand out expectantly for the money, which Korra handed to him without hesitation. Tahno began to object, but was silenced by the look she gave him. "I'm buying, okay? I promised you a night out, so everything's on me, got it?" Tahno nodded mutely before returning to watch the bartender's back, his earlier frustration returning.

"So, Avatar, do you come to this place often?" Tahno asked, deciding he could no longer stand the silence filling between them. Korra smiled sheepishly,

"Sometimes," She admitted, "It's one of the only places where people don't seem to care who I am. I just get ignored here, I like it." Tahno nodded in understanding. He knew that feeling, wanting to be alone. Almost invisible. Of course, all the recognition and affection that he got was usually from very alluring fan girls, but every now and then even those girls would become too tiring for him and he'd want to escape.

Korra ordered a second round after the first two drinks were drained.

Half way through their third drink, and now chatting animatedly to each other about extremely unimportant and mostly irrelevant topics of conversation, the salon doors burst open and in walked a burly looking man. Tahno choked on the sip he was taking.

"You okay?" Korra asked, following his line of sight to the man. Just then, the man looked over at them, his eyes narrowing and scowl flashing on his face. "Who's that?"

"Doesn't matter." Tahno shook his head and kept his eyes trained on the bottom of his glass, absent mindedly swirling around the amber contents.

Tahno tensed as he heard the man approach. "Well, if it isn't Tahno the _ex_-Wolfbat." Tahno cringed at the word 'ex', barely holding back a shudder as image recounts of that night flooded his slightly intoxicated brain.

Tahno didn't reply, and the man, sensing that Tahno was intent on ignoring him, grabbed his shoulder and forced him to turn around, holding him up by the front of his clothes so they were face to face.

"Let go." Tahno said quietly, tiredly.

"Why?" The man sneered, leaning over him. "What are you going to do? Force me to let go? Ha, you can't even bend, let alone throw a punch! Pathetic."

Tahno wished he could. He wished he really could.

Korra slammed her drink down. She wasn't going to just sit by and let some thug intimidate her friend.

_Wait, friend? Where did THAT come from?_

The guy noticed her then, turning his face toward her, smirking. "And what exactly are you going to do, pretty girl?"

"Don't." Tahno warned Korra, knowing her peace here would never again happen if she were to do something.

Tahno was dropped rather ungraciously onto his stool, watching as the guy turned to fully face Korra, rolling the sleeves of his shirt up.

"Pack it in guys." The bar tender finally decided to speak up, after having continously polished the same already pristine glass whilst Tahno was being threatened. Tahno sent a glare at him, who shrugged, keeping his eyes on the guy to make sure he didn't go any closer to the girl.

After a couple of seconds of intense staring, the guy relented and walked away, knocking into Tahno with his shoulder as he went past.

"Hmph." Korra narrowed her eyes and sent one last glare towards the guy before sitting backdown and tending to her drink. "We could have taken him." She complained, sighing. "That was such a jerk thing for him to do. I mean, what the hell is his problem?" Tahno simply shrugged, glad it hadn't escalated. He knew the guy, and he knew the reason for his behaviour, but he wasn't going to tell Korra that. "Really, you should have let me do _something_."

"Just drop it, Korra!" Tahno muttered under his breath, loud enough for her to hear.

Engrossed in getting his drink finished as fast as he could so the night could be over, he failed to notice Korra slide her foot over the floor of the bar, sending a mini earthquake towards the guy. She smirked as she dug her heel into the ground, letting the earth shift up and topple over his chair and table, with his drink landing on his face. She bit her lip to hold back her laugh as he jumped up, enraged, glaring around the bar, looking for the earth bender that had done that.

_Perfection._

Tahno looked at the guy, who's name he had just remembered as Rico, and then back at the grin plastered on Korra's face. "What did you do?"

"Me?" She feigned innocence, to which he rasied his eyebrow at. She wasn't fooling him. "He deserved it." She amended, pouting, and Tahno shook his head,

"I told you to drop it."

"I did. _That_ was because he annoyed me with his attitude, not for what he said about you." Tahno rolled his eyes, he had never realised before how much of a child she could be. But then again, it was only to be expected- she'd been sheltered her entire life, these past few months living in Republic City have probably been her first experience with the 'outside world'.

He was knocked out of his thoughts when a booming voice surrounded them. "YOU!" Tahno jerked his head up to see Rico was breathing heavily and pointing at a fairly small guy an the corner of the bar.

"M-me?" The little guy squeaked, the blood draining from his face. Rico's eyes narrowed dangerously as he stalked towards the man, his posture like a raging bull.

The little guy had stood up when he saw Rico's advance, and had unfortunately blocked himself into a corner when he stepped backwards in an attempt to get away from him.

The bar tender was once again turning a blind eye.

Grabbing the little guy by the front of his earth bending robes, Rico hoisted him up into the air, slamming his back into the wall of the establishment. "Just what do you think you're doing, punk, making my chair fall over like that, huh?!"

"I n-never did anything!" The earthbender insisted, turning his face towards the wall.

"Bull_shit_, you're the only earth bender here!" Rico let go of his robes, drew his arm back and fisted his hand, sending a punch straight into the guy's jaw.

Unable to dodge, the poor man was sent stumbling backwards and crashed into the table behind, shattering it and the plates that were atop.

That didn't bode well with the occupants of that table.

Within minutes, practically all of the customers had joined in with the brawl.

Only then, when Tahno and Korra were the only two not participating, did the bar tender attempt to break up the crowd.

"Let's get out of here." Tahno said, standing up and weaving his way through combating persons, flying cutlery and the odd element.

Seeing the front door was effectively blocked, he motioned for Korra to follow him around to the back of the bar and into the store room, where a back exit lay.

The pair stumbled out of the back door and into the alley, laughing hysterically. Mixed with the alchohol Korra had just been drinking, her laughs soon turned to hiccups. This only made her laugh harder.

It took quite a while for them both to completely calm down. Every now and then a bottle or even a person would fly out of the bar and they'd crack up again, leaning against the brick wall opposite for support, clutching their sides.

Moments were spent in silence as they struggled to catch their breaths. Loud noises and crashes were still coming from the bar, but Korra was past caring for that now. She could feel the full effects now, and was wishing she could go home soon to sleep it off.

Tahno saw it coming first. The spark that would set it all off. Panicking, because there was only one solution his brain could come up with, he grabbed Korra's arms roughly and pulled her into him, spinning her so her back was compressed against the wall.

A million thoughts ran through her mind. What is he doing?! She tried to push him off her but he only clung on tighter. "Tahn-" She tried to say, but was cut off by the loud bang. Her eyes widened at the bright light filtering in around his chest before she clamped them shut and buried her face into him. A large gush of wind sent debris cluttering all around them, covering them in a thick layer of soot and dust. He was shielding her. Tahno stepped back, shaking slightly.

"Are- are you okay?" He managed to get out. Korra nodded weakly, and he noticed her eyes are filled with tears. Before he could comment, she rushed forward and locked her arms around his neck,

"Thank you." She whispered into his ear, squeazing him tighter. It took him a few shocked seconds to return the hug.

"No problem." She stepped back and sniffed, wiping her eyes and letting out a shaky laugh whilst looking at anything but him.

"Well..." Tahno smirked, noting her obvious embarrasment. She coughed lightly, clearing her throat. "What a, er, mess we appear to have made." She looked guiltily at the wreckage of the bar. Tahno simply shrugged.

"Any bartender should know that firebenders and alcohol are _not_ a good combination. So, really, not our fault."

"I guess... But we should still get out of here before the police come." Korra really didn't fancy another run in with Chief Bei Fong right now. Tahno nodded and Korra brought her fingers to her lips, calling Naga. The two clambered up onto Naga and she set off running, towards the fountain where the evening began.

They jumped off and Korra splashed her face with the cold water, welcoming the refreshment. She turned back around to find Tahno staring at her, an odd expression on his face, as though she'd just smeared all her make up. "What?" She demanded. He shook his head, smiling slightly.

"You were right." Korra raised an eyebrow at him.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific there, pretty boy."

"Tonight definitely was a night I'll never forget."

"Oh." She grinned at him rather awkwardly, for he had stepped closer during his speech and was now only inches away from her. She could feel his warm breath on her face. Her eyes darted to his lips and back, and she swore she saw his do the exact same. Was he going to kiss her? Before her mind could come up with an appropriate response, he bent down and planted a quick, chaste kiss on her lips.

Something crumpled was pressed into her hand and the next thing she knew, Tahno was stepping away, into the dark. "See you around, _Uh_-vatar." She stood, for an infinite amount of time, mesmirised. Naga nudged her out of her trance and she looked down at her hand, to the piece of paper in it. Brow furrowed, she straightened it out and began reading.

_Apartment B, Sixth Street._

_Those private lessons still stand, Korra, if you're interested._

She rolled her eyes and with a smile on her face put the piece of paper into her pocket. "Come on Naga," She said, climbing back onto the Polar Beardog's saddle. "Let's go home girl."

* * *

**Heh, I actually started this at Easter, but I've only just finished it :')**

**Thanks to ****makojaynerd****, ****nicothecuckoo****, ****bixy****, ****bitchpuleese**** and ****xkojin**** off of tumblr for helping me think of a name for the pub they went to! And thank you guys for reading, don't forget to leave a review! :D**


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